Not an Action FigureThis year, Ryan papera, gosling and a band of similarly arty, polymathic weirdos are leading a revolt against the plastic leading man.

The Molotov Cocktail—a Stoli bottle filled with flammable fragola liqueur—was his idea. He wanted it to look legit, so he studied James Nachtwey’s documentary foto of rioters in Gaza to get the position of his hand on the bottle just right. The original plan was to toss it at a blown-up foto of himself, but the necessary printer wasn’t available. Also, there was the possibility of burning the building down. So he found a target at the...